Visigoths

Gold coin minted by King Euric,with the name of the Roman Emperor on it

The Visigoths established a kingdom for themselves
within the collapsing Roman
Empire in 418 AD. They took over most
of south-western France (Aquitaine), a very fertile area which had been
thickly settled by the Romans. The Visigoths at first acted more or
less as representatives of the Roman government, keeping order for Rome
in Aquitaine, but as time went on and Rome got weaker, the Visigoths
began to act more on their own account. When the Vandals
left Spain for Africa in 429 AD, the Visigoths
began to take over Spain as well. They were better administrators than
the Vandals had been.

In 509 AD catastrophe struck the Visigothic
kingdom in southern France (which is known as the Kingdom of Toulouse).
The Franks, who had taken over northern
France, made an effort to break through to the Mediterranean under their
young king Clovis. One reason that the Visigoths and the Franks did
not get along was that the Visigoths were Arian
Christians while the Franks were Catholics.

After a big battle at Vouillé, the Franks won,
and the Visigoths lost, and their king was killed. The Franks took over
most of southern France, and most of the Visigoths moved to Spain, where
they founded a new capital city at Toledo (so this kingdom is known
as the Kingdom of Toledo).

In Spain the Visigoths fell under the control of the
Ostrogoths, because the Visigoths' new
king, Amalaric, was only a baby, and his powerful grandfather, Theodoric
the Ostrogoth, offered to act as regent for him (to rule for Amalaric
until he grew up).
Then soon after Amalaric grew up he was killed, and there was soon a
civil war between two men who wanted to be king, Athanagild and Agila.
Athanagild, who was losing, asked the Roman Emperor Justinian
to help him, and Justinian sent troops right away, who put Athanagild
on the throne and killed Agila. But when Athanagild thanked the Romans
and said they could go home now, the Romans said no, they were going
to stay. For the next seventy years and more, the Visigoths were almost
always fighting to try to get the Romans out of Spain.

By 600 AD the Visigoths were the only Arians
left in the Mediterranean area (or anywhere else) and finally they too
converted to Catholicism, under their king Reccared.

From 600 to 700 AD,
the Visigothic kings got weaker and weaker. Even though they did finally
manage to get rid of the Romans, they didn't have much power themselves.
They gave away a lot of their land to reward their supporters, and they
weren't strong enough to collect much in taxes.

Finally in 711 AD the Arabs
and Moors invaded from Africa, across the Straits of Gibraltar. They
took over Spain and made it a province of the Islamic empire.

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